The thoughts and musings of a man at the precipice of middle age, starting from his 50th birthday.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Picking the Right Motorsickle Part II

The Shadow...

By all rights the Shadow should have been a lock. There was too many things that were too right from the get go. It was red, it was a 500cc and a Honda, it was well maintained and had only one minor ding on the tank with no rust and shiny chrome. Best of all it only had 5K miles on it. But as it often is in life: Should’ve and was were two very different things.

The seller was proud of what he had and he should have been, it was in great shape. He concluded with “The only thing the bike needs is to be ridden”. Looking at it, I had to agree. So I jumped on it and took off.

Making a left out of his driveway I took off back towards the town. Wide curves and slight hills. It was noisier than the Silverwing and due to lack of fairings a little windier. The Shadow did have a windshield but it did not seem to help much. The ride was also a little bumpier, but the acceleration was smooth and powerful. When I got to the town I took a lap around the towne hall and turned to head back. On the way back I saw the county fairgrounds which had a large parking lot. Perfect.

Pulled in the lot and started to put the bike through a serious of turns and other maneuvers. That was when I discovered that a hard right or left turn ended with the hand grip bumping against my leg. Also because the seat had me so far forward, I had no way to adjust so it was not in the way. Not good, but I know handlebars can be adjusted.

On the rest of the ride back the sitting position started to bother me. On the Silverwing, my leg angle from my knee to foot was more or less straight; like sitting in a chair. On this bike, my feet were further back so my knees were bent and it felt like I was sitting almost like a jockey on a horse. When I got back to the seller’s house I looked closely at the handlebars which could be adjusted and the seat which could not. I also saw no way to add highway pegs to the bike, so I could not work around it that way. He and I were the same height and he confirmed the turn issue and the feel of sitting forward on the bike.

I was disappointed, I had a lot of hope for this bike.

In the end, one was a cruiser and one was a touring bike. I liked the touring bike better and felt more comfortable on it. So, I just need to find the right Silverwing.